Wednesday, July 10, 2019

OMG: Demihuman Deities, Part 1

Ok a bit of a direction change here for One Man's God. Normally I look at the myths presented in the 1st Ed AD&D Deities & Demigods, compare them to the myths from the real world and then look to see how some of the monsters can be classified as "D&D Demons", which is not exactly the same as a Judeo-Christian Demon, but I am not ignoring that mythology either.

This series will be different since the myths I am looking at now were all almost all wholesale made up by the creators of the AD&D game as it existed at the time. So no appeal to real-world myths here is 100% appropriate, though there are some notable exceptions.

When looking over these beings though we are left with the same question as before.
Would this being be better suited as a god or as a demon?

Let's find out.

Introduction
We start out with the idea that demi-humans and non-human monsters are either Shamans or Witch Doctors. We see this in action later in the BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia version of the D&D rules. We are even given a new class, the Wokani, which (depending on which version of Basic you grab) are either witch doctors or witches in their own right. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

We are also told that some of the creatures in the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio are to be treated as lesser gods.

So, if they have a unique personal name then they are essentially lesser gods. Sort what I am doing here really.

Right off the bat some of these creatures are gods and others are named as demons. The are some that fall in the in-betweens and those are the ones I want to investigate further. I am also going to work from my own biases here. I think certain creatures are certain things. Want to do it differently? Great, do it your way.

Gods Among (Demi)Men
Who in this listing of gods are undisputable gods?
I think the following beings make the list.
Skerrit (Centuars), Moradin (Dwarves), Corellon Larethian (Elves, and most of the elven gods), the gods of the Giants, Garl Glittergold (Gnomes), Yondalla (Halflings), Gruumsh (Orcs) (but more on him later). Others are ify.

Side note: I always loved Yondalla. I thought of all the gods of the demi-humans she was perfect. Exactly the kind of goddess the Halflings would have.

Maglubiyet, Hruggek and Gruumsh

In my game world, Goblins are actually a faerie race. They are often evil, but some are just good enough to be considered Neutral. For this reason, I see them more as Chaotic. Hobgoblins in my world are related more to Hobs or more to the point, "Old Hob" aka the Devil. I consider them goblins with a touch of Devildom about them. Much in the same way that tieflings are to humans. Bugbears, on the other hand, are more demonic. Bugbears come from the same root of words that give us boggles, boggleboes, and boogeyman. I have played around with various ideas of goblin gods for a while. At first, I went with Maglubiyet, but there is something about him I don't like, or rather, I don't like in this role. Then I went with the Erlking as Lord of the Goblins and also Jareth as a Faerie Lord king of the Goblins. I even went with atheist goblins for a while after reading GURPS Goblins. I think I am more happy with a Jareth/Erlking blend these days.
That leaves me with Maglubiyet, the Lawful Evil god of Hobgoblins who also is a lesser Duke of Hell (his names sounds like a Duke of Hell to be honest) who wars with Gruumsh. And way over in the Abyss we have the monster Hruggek who is a Chaotic Evil Demon Lord that is the patron of the Bugbears. His name also sounds more demonic to me.
This leaves both beings relatively the same as they were before.

Gruumsh is a different story. The one-eyed Gruumsh is obviously a nod, conscious or not, to Sauron. Also, the orc of Tolkien's world are much more demonic that the orcs of D&D and other modern fantasy. In The Silmarillion, we learn that orcs were created by the Vala Melkor, later Morgoth. So there is an idea of divine creation perverted. Would Melkor be a demon? He is more closely related to Lucifer is analysis, but that only muddies the waters really. I also like the idea that orcs were once related to Elves. Of the two main species in D&D only elves and orcs can mate and produce offspring with humans. So here is a heresy.

Orcs, and indeed Gruumsh, were all elves. Gruumsh was Corellon's brother.

Somewhere, somehow, Gruumsh betrayed Corellon (orcs say it was the other way around) and Gruumsh the orc was born. I just need a good Elvish sounding name to give him before this fall.
Personally, I find this FAR more compelling than the tale of Lolth.
Speaking of which.

Lolth, The What Queen?
Lolth is a lesser goddess. No, wait she is a demon. She was Araushnee, but that doesn't come till later.
I have talked about my issues with drow in the past and how they are really Lawful Evil and not Chaotic Evil. Plus if I can make a Lawful Evil Goddess Tiamat into a Chaotic Evil I should be able to do the opposite for Lolth. Which of course means she would not really be a demon anymore. She is more of devil. BUT. I like the idea that she is a demon. Can I make a LE Demon? no. not really.

I think the simple answer here is that Elves, Orcs, and other fae creatures like Goblins don't fit into the Devil-Demon dichotomy very well. I am inclined to pull them out and let them be their own thing. Lolth is called the "Demon Queen" but that is more due to her "Fallen" status than anything else.

Despite my stated goal of trying to pull these beings into the likes of demons, I am happy with them being their own thing.

Gnolls and You Know Who
Before I end today's discussion I should point the example that falls right into line with what I am doing. Gnolls and the Demon Prince Yeenoghu. Here we have a strong non-human species and they worship a demon as their god. It works. It works well.

Too well. Why does a weak-ass demon prince (ok relative) like Yeenoghu have humanoid, intelligent worshipers but more powerful ones like Orcus and Demogorgon do not? I will dig into it next time.